Imaging And Recording Device Media Staging Support

ABSTRACT

A media support stand includes a top surface incorporated into a housing of an imaging device. A plurality of media slots are formed in the top surface. Each media slot in the plurality is configured to support at least one print media oriented vertically. Each media slot in the plurality includes a plurality of arc inducing vector transitions in a plane transverse to the planar extent of the vertically oriented print media. The plurality of arc inducing vector transitions are configured to impart alternating arcs to the print media inserted into the respective media slot.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to imaging devices, and, inparticular, to sheet folding systems used in imaging devices.

BACKGROUND

There are numerous different types of office equipment such as, forexample, copiers, printers, facsimile machines, and multi-functiondevices. Temporarily staging media before, during and/or after usingoffice equipment is a very common activity encountered when using officeequipment. Office and home office space, however, is frequently at apremium. Finding nearby stands and designated “flat” areas forconvenient, temporary staging of printed media or bundles of media maybe difficult, encouraging utilization of poorly suited imaging orrecording product surfaces for this purpose. Stationary surfaces of suchproducts are generally not friendly or suitable to the task of holdingsheets or bundles of media not directly associated with the input/outputof the device.

Media stands are known for paper and various types of media. The purposeof these devices has been aimed at supporting a media sheet in avertical orientation so that it can be referenced while typing orworking on a computer. Such devices have historically been of two partcurve configurations having a spring load to clamp the curved sectionsagainst the bottom portion of media so that a pronounced stiffeningbuckle, ripple or “soft crease” is created, enabling the media to standwithout support over the mid or upper sections. Alternatively, thesestands have employed a narrow slot that accomplishes the same stiffeningsoft crease function. These designs work adequately for the intendedfunction, where a support surface for stand placement is readilyavailable near the area of work activity and both hands are availablefor the handling and insertion process. Efficient use of these devicesrequire two handed interface. Weakness arise almost immediately whenmultiple sheets are to be used, particularly if one is hampered byoccupying one hand with other materials that cannot readily be released,when there is no space, for ensuring separation or maintaining order, asexample. Many situations also arise where placement of these portabledevices is not available. A further problem is that the devices are notstable against motion or incidental contact, where such instabilitywould almost certainly cause the supported media to be knocked over.Because the devices are intended for vertically supporting an uprightorientation of the long edge of typical printed media, the nature of thecreated soft crease is fairly pronounced so that the tall aspect ratioand its tendency to fold or fall over can be overcome.

SUMMARY

A media support stand has been developed that may be incorporated intoan imaging device that enables the storage or staging of print mediathat would otherwise have to be held in hand or set down on an availablesurface that may not be suitable for the task of holding sheets orbundles of media not directly associated with the input/output of thedevice. The media support stand includes a top surface. A plurality ofmedia slots are formed in the top surface. Each media slot in theplurality is configured to support at least one print media orientedsomewhat vertically. Each media slot in the plurality includes aplurality of arc inducing vector transitions in a plane transverse tothe planar extent of the vertically oriented print media. The pluralityof arc inducing vector transitions are configured to impart alternatingarcs to the print media inserted into the respective media slot.

In another embodiment, an imaging device is provided that includes aimaging product configured to apply a marking material to print media,and a housing that at least partially encloses the marking engine. Amedia support stand is incorporated into the housing. The media supportstand includes a plurality of media slots. Each media slot in theplurality is configured to support at least one print media orientedvertically. Each media slot in the plurality includes a plurality of arcinducing vector transitions in a plane transverse to the planar extentof the vertically oriented print media. The plurality of arc inducingvector transitions being configured to impart alternating arcs to theprint media inserted into the respective media slot.

In yet another embodiment, an imaging device is provided that includes amarking engine configured to apply a marking material to print media,and a housing that at least partially encloses the marking engine. Amedia support stand is incorporated into the housing. The media supportstand includes at least one media slot configured to support at leastone print media oriented vertically. The at least one media slot has atleast one open end that enables the at least one print media to behorizontally inserted into the media slot.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and other features of the present disclosure areexplained in the following description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an imaging device having a media supportstand.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a particular embodiment of an imagingdevice and media support stand.

FIG. 3 is a top view of an embodiment of a media support stand.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the media support stand of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a media supportstand.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For a general understanding of the present embodiments, reference ismade to the drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals have beenused throughout to designate like elements.

As used herein, the term “imaging device” generally refers to a devicefor applying an image to print media. “Print media” can be a physicalsheet of paper, plastic, or other suitable physical print mediasubstrate for images, whether precut or web fed. The imaging device mayinclude a variety of other components, such as finishers, paper feeders,and the like, and may be embodied as a copier, printer, or amultifunction machine. A “print job” or “document” is normally a set ofrelated sheets, usually one or more collated copy sets copied from a setof original print job sheets or electronic document page images, from aparticular user, or otherwise related. An image generally may includeinformation in electronic form which is to be rendered on the printmedia by the marking engine and may include text, graphics, pictures,and the like.

A simplified block diagram of an embodiment of an imaging device havinga media support stand is depicted in FIG. 1. The imaging device 10 maybe any device or machine that is configured to apply a marking materialto print media such as, for example, a copier, facsimile machine,printer, copier, multi-function device, etc. The imaging device 10includes an outer housing 14 having a top surface 18 and side surfaces20. The imaging device may include a user interface/display (not shown)that displays information concerning the status of the imaging device,and user instructions. Buttons or other control elements (not shown) forcontrolling operation of the imaging device may be adjacent the userinterface window, or may be at other locations on the imaging device.The imaging device may include a feeder 24, marking engine 28, and afinisher 30. The imaging device including the marking engine 28, feeder24 and finisher 30 may be integrated into a single housing 14.Alternatively, the marking engine, feeder and finisher can have amodular architecture which allows one or more of the marking engine,feeder and finisher to have separate housings that are appropriatelylinked to each other as is known in the art.

As explained below, the imaging device includes a media support stand 34that is integrated into the housing 14 at one or more suitable locationssuch as housing enclosure panels, doors, access covers and the like. Themedia support stand 34 includes one or more shallow slots 38 that areconfigured to accept one or more sheets of media such as paper,transparency, book or card stock oriented on edge or upright. Asdiscussed below with regard to FIGS. 3 and 4, the slots have a wavy orcorrugated shape in order to introduce at least one or moreadvantageously, two or more soft creases, arcs, curves or non sharpbends/buckles into the media such that the media becomes sufficientlystiff to stand upright or at least somewhat vertical in the slot withoutrequiring further support such as a backing member, clip, or similarstructure. All references to housing, regardless of any simplified orspecific immediate use, are intended to extend to any full or partialenclosure or extension of or through an enclosure on any element of animaging product. References to printer, marking engine, or imagingproduct are thus inclusive of any integrated or assembled aspect of theproduct, the document feeder mounted to a scanner or a control panel, asexample.

The imaging device includes a marking engine 28 disposed within thehousing 14 that is configured to apply a marking material to print mediato form images on the print media. Marking material may be any suitabletype of marking material such as liquid aqueous-based ink, phase changeink in liquid form, toner, gel-based ink, etc. Suitable marking enginesinclude electrophotographic printers, ink-jet printers, including solidink printers, thermal head printers that are used in conjunction withheat sensitive paper, and other devices capable of marking an image on asubstrate. The imaging device may be a direct marking device or anoffset marking device. In a direct marking device, the marking materialmay be applied directly onto the surface of print media. In offsetmarking devices, the marking material is applied to an intermediatetransfer surface such as a drum or belt for subsequent transfer to printmedia.

The marking engine 28 may be fed with print media from the feeder 24 asis known in the art. The feeder 24 may include a plurality of printmedia sources such as trays (not shown). Each feeder tray, may includeprint media having different attributes such as roughness, coats,weights and the like. The print media may be substantially any type ofmedia upon which the printhead modules may print, such as: high qualitybond paper, lower quality “copy” paper, overhead transparency sheets,high gloss paper, etc. Once marking material has been deposited on printmedia by the marking engine 28, the print media may be transferred,delivered, or otherwise moved to a finishing device, or finisher 30. A“finisher” can be any post-printing accessory device such as an outputtray or trays, sorter, mailbox, inserter, interposer, folder, stapler,stacker, hole puncher, collator, stitcher, binder, envelope stuffer,postage machine, or the like. The finisher 10 may be configured toprovide various finishes to the print media sheets of a print job orjobs, or even a portion of a print job.

A print media transporting system 40 links the feeder 24, marking engine28, and finisher 10. The print media transporting system includes anetwork of media pathways for guiding the movement of the print mediathrough the imaging device 10. The print media transporting system mayinclude drive members, such as pairs of rollers, spherical nips,airjets, or the like. The transport system may further includeassociated motors for the drive members, belts, guide rods, frames, etc.(not shown), which, in combination with the drive members, serve toconvey the print media along selected pathways at selected speeds. Inaddition, the media transporting system may include inverters,reverters, interposers, bypass pathways, etc. as known in the art todirect the print media to the appropriate positions for processing.

Operation and control of the various subsystems, components, andfunctions of the imaging device 10 are performed with the aid of acontroller 44. The controller 44, for example, may be a micro-controllerhaving a central processor unit (CPU), electronic storage, and a displayor user interface (UI). The controller reads, captures, prepares andmanages the image data flow between image sources, such as a scanner orcomputer (not shown), and imaging systems, such as the marking engine28. The controller 44 is the main multi-tasking processor for operatingand controlling many or all of the other machine subsystems andfunctions, including the machine's printing operations, and, thus,includes the necessary hardware, software, etc. for controlling thesevarious systems.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, an embodiment of a media support stand34 that may be incorporated into an imaging device housing, such as theimaging device of FIG. 1, is illustrated. As explained in more detailbelow, the media support stand 34 includes a plurality of media slots38, each media slot being configured to hold or stage one or more sheetsof print media 48 on edge in a substantially upright orientation. Themedia support stand may be incorporated into the imaging device housingor enclosure at any suitable location and if multiple parts areinvolved, be attached our coupled in any permanent or removable fashion.When practical, it is preferred to form or mold these features into anenclosure surface. For example, the media support stand may beincorporated into imaging device housing panels, doors, access coversand the like. FIG. 2 shows a particular embodiment of an imaging device10′ that incorporates a media support stand 34. As seen in FIG. 2, themedia stand 34 is incorporated into a top surface 18 of the housing atlocation A. Other suitable locations on the imaging device of FIG. 2include location B. As may be ascertained by a person of ordinary skillin the art, media support stands may be incorporated into the imagingdevice housing at a number of other locations such as by extending mediastands horizontally from a side panel of the housing. Media supportstands may also be formed into a pivotable door or similar structure onthe housing (not shown).

The media support stand 34 provides a convenient location to store orstage print media 48 that would otherwise have to be held in hand or setdown on an available surface that may not be suitable for the task ofholding sheets or bundles of media not directly associated with theinput/output of the device. In addition, the upright media storagecapability of the media support stand conserves space and lessens slideoff and lack of control of media from the typically unsuitable productsurfaces used for temporary staging of documents or pages set asideduring printing, copying, gathering, sorting, and compiling efforts mostassociated with imaging and recording product usage.

As depicted in FIGS. 3 and 4, the media support stand 34 includes a bodyhaving a top surface 50 with a plurality of media receiving slots formedtherein. In one embodiment, the media support stand 34 comprises aone-piece molded structure that may integrally formed with thecorresponding imaging device housing panel or wall at which it islocated (such as top surface 18). Thus, the media support stand 34 maybe formed of the same material utilized for the imaging device housingsuch as, for example, plastic. Any suitable material, however, may beused to form the media support stand. As an alternative to integrallyforming the media support stand with the imaging device housing, themedia support stand may be separately manufactured and permanently orremovably attached to the imaging device housing utilizing anyappropriate attachment device and/or method.

The media support stand 34 may include any suitable number of mediaslots. The media support stand 34 of FIGS. 3 and 4 includes three mediaslots 38. However, more or fewer slots may be utilized. The use ofmultiple media slots 38 in the media stand 34 facilitates actions suchas separation and sorting of media sheets and/or securely accommodatingdifferent numbers of grouped media sheets. Each media receiving slot 38is defined by a substantially horizontal bottom surface 54, a pair ofopposing vertically extending lateral side walls 56, 58, or protrudingfeatures and a pair of longitudinal ends 60, 62. The bottom surface 54of each slot is recessed a predetermined distance from the top surfaceof the support stand and is configured to support an edge of at leastone media sheet oriented at the bottom of an at lease somewhat uprightorientation. As used herein, the phrase “oriented on edge,” or “orientedvertically” refers to the orientation of media sheets in which theplanar extent of the media sheet is oriented vertically or substantiallyparallel to the direction of gravitational force with at least one edgecorresponding to a bottom or lower edge. The orientation of vertical orvertically encompasses angles that are at least somewhat vertical to theextent that the media does not fall or bend over. The bottom or loweredge of a vertically oriented media sheet supported by the bottomsurfaces of the slots may be any edge of the media sheet. For example,rather than intentionally standing the media with long edge upright, astypical with media supports used for reading or viewing, the media slotsof the media support stand may receive media sheets with the long edgecorresponding to the lower or bottom edge received in the slots of themedia stand. For the purposes of this discussion, each slot has a slotwidth that corresponds to the distance between the first vertical wall56 and the second vertical wall 58 of the respective slot, a slot depththat corresponds to the distance from the top surface 50 of the mediastand to the bottom surface 54 of the respective slot, and a slot lengththat corresponds to the distance between the first longitudinal end 60and the second longitudinal end 62 of each respective slot.

The pair of opposing side walls 56, 58 extends from opposite lateraledges of the bottom surface 54 to the top surface 50 of the supportstand. The opposing side walls are oriented substantially vertically.However, one or both the side walls may be angled such that the slotswiden from the bottom surface of the slot to the top surface of themedia stand for aesthetics, to allow a slight lean or to facilitatemolding of the slots. In addition, the side walls may be angled orcontoured to make it easier to fully insert unruly media, such asflaccid paper or stacks, that may have bends, non-uniform curvature,tears and/or edge mis-alignment. In one embodiment, the top surface 50of the media support stand is substantially flat exclusive of the mediaslots formed therein. Thus, when the media slots are not being used tostage media sheets as described below, the top surface 50 of the mediasupport stand may be utilized as a work surface for staging, forexample, office supplies such as paper reams, ink supply containers,media stacks or substantially anything that requires a stationary flatsurface upon which to rest. The top surface, however, need not be flat.For example, the vertical side walls of the slots may be offset ortruncated relative to each other to further facilitate insertion ofmedia into the slots.

In order to support one or more sheets of media in the verticalorientation, each media slot 38 has a wavy or undulating configurationas viewed from above (FIG. 3). In particular, the wavy or undulatingconfiguration of each media slot includes at least one, butadvantageously two or more, arc-inducing vector transitions that are ina horizontal plane, i.e., a plane transverse to the generally planarextent of the vertically oriented sheets inserted therein. In theembodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4, the media slots include three arc inducingvector transitions 64, 66, 68. In the case of multiple slots, one ormore slots may be elevated relative to another. The arc inducing vectortransitions of the slots are configured to induce or impart at least oneand advantageously multiple vertically extending alternating arcs,curves, ridges, peaks, etc. to the media sheets inserted into therespective slots in order to stiffen the sheets to enable the sheets tostand substantially upright in the slots. Because the wavy configurationof the slots enables media sheets to essentially stand on their own inthe slots, the slot depth need not be appreciably deep relative to theheight or width of the media stored therein. For example, in oneembodiment, slot depth for the slots may be approximately 20 mm, butshallower or deeper slots may be utilized. The Slot configuration may beoptimized to support the long edge of media, thereby reducingunsupported height and the extent to which a buckle or soft crease mustbe imparted in order to support the media.

Each slot has a slot width chosen to enable the slot to store or stage anon-absolute predetermined number of vertically oriented media sheets.Media is available in a wide variety of thicknesses and types andadditionally may vary in thickness due to printed images, folds,staples, presence of self adhering notes and the like. All references toa predetermined number are therefore only suggestive for visualization.Any suitable slot width may be utilized. In embodiments of media supportstands that include multiple media slots, such as the media supportstand of FIGS. 3 and 4, each media slot may the same or different slotwidths. For example, slot width may vary from slot to slot toaccommodate a different number of media sheets in each slot. In theembodiment of FIG. 3, slot 70 has a greater slot width relative to theother slots which enables slot 70 to store or stage media stacks orbundles having a greater effective width than the other slots.

When manually handling media, as example, for sorting printouts orselecting one or more pages from a group to be copied, a person oftenhas different pages in each hand. It can be very difficult to direct oneor more pages into a support slot in a predominantly vertical directionwith that one hand as most media is not stiff enough to resist bending.The support of the present invention allows for a more angular orhorizontal insertion that encourages control over the media duringfollow through to complete insertion, even when one hand is used.Because this configuration has multiple but more subtle “soft crease”creating features, it facilitates a more horizontal insertion and can beused in those cases where the benefit of a stand would otherwise beoverridden by the difficulty or inconvenience of insertion. Descriptionsof horizontal insertion are intended to include full or partial pullthrough and angular set down where one end of the slot is initiallyengaged and the sheet or multi-sheet bundle is then pivoted down intoplace such that progressive insertion progresses in a horizontaldirection as full slot engagement is attained.

To facilitate insertion of a media sheet or stack of media sheets into amedia slot, at least one longitudinal end of each slot extends through aside surface 72, 74 of the support stand body to enable insertion of atleast one media sheet into the respective slot horizontally. In themedia stand of FIGS. 3 and 4, both ends 60, 62 of each media slot extendhorizontally through the corresponding side surface 72, 74 of thesupport stand and thus may serve as insertion ends for the slots. Forexample, to insert a media sheet or stack of media sheets into a mediaslot, at least a portion of a bottom or lower edge of the media sheet(s)such as a lower corner may be inserted horizontally through an open endof a slot and directed to the opposite longitudinal end of the slot bythe confining side walls. As the bottom edge of the sheet(s) is movedhorizontally through the slot, the arc inducing vector transitions ofthe slots introduce multiple vertically extending arcs, buckles, curves,soft creases, etc. into the sheet(s) to stiffen the sheet(s) asdescribed above. As seen in FIG. 3, the slot width is substantiallyconstant along the longitudinal dimension of the respective slot.

To further facilitate horizontal insertion of media sheets into theslots, the open ends of the slots may have a flaired configuration,i.e., one or both of the opposing side walls 56, 58 at the open ends 60,62 of the slots may be rounded, angled, chamfered, truncated, etc. asdepicted in FIG. 3 to facilitate insertion of at least a portion of anedge of a media sheet or bundled media into the slot. As an alternativeto initiating insertion of media sheets into the slots at one or bothends of the slots, an intermediate portion of the slot may be, forexample, flaired or angled to enable insertion of at least a portion ofan edge of a media sheet or media stack into a slot. As describedearlier, this allows the media to be pulled into or rotated downwardlyinto the slot.

In alternative embodiments, a slot may be discontinuous and be comprisedof multiple protruding features rather than having uninterrupted walls.This may be a preferred media “slot” configuration if molding, formingor otherwise incorporating an otherwise more complicated continuous slotis not practical, such as may be applicable to placement at the side ofan enclosure element. For example, FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of a mediasupport stand that includes a plurality of projections that extendlaterally from a side surface 20 of an imaging device. The projectionsinclude projections 80 that have an upward extending portion for holdingmedia sheet(s) 48 and projections 84 that extend outwardly from the sidesurface. Together, the slot projections 80 and the projections 84 inducea plurality of alternating vector transitions (indicated by arrows) inmedia sheet(s) 48 to stiffen or rigidify the sheet(s) so that they canstand at least somewhat vertically without requiring additional supportat an upper portion of the sheet(s).

It will be appreciated that various of the above-disclosed and otherfeatures and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirablycombined into many other different systems, applications or methods.Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives,modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequentlymade by those skilled in the art which are also intended to beencompassed by the following claims.

1. A media support stand comprising: a media support configurationincorporated into a housing of an imaging device; a plurality of mediaslots formed in the media support, each media slot in the pluralitybeing configured to support at least one print media oriented at leastsomewhat vertically, each media slot in the plurality including aplurality of arc inducing vector transitions configured to impartalternating arcs to the print media inserted into the respective mediaslot.
 2. The media support stand of claim 1, the media support slotsbeing integral with the housing.
 3. The media support stand of claim 1,each media slot in the plurality having at least one open end thatenables print media to be horizontally inserted into the respectivemedia slot.
 4. The media support stand of claim 3, the at least one openend being flaired with respect to an intermediate portion of therespective media slot.
 5. The media support stand of claim 4, at leastone of the plurality of media slots having a slot width that isdifferent than a slot width of other media slots in the plurality. 6.The media support stand of claim 5, the media contact surfaces of bottomsurface of the media support slots being oriented substantiallyhorizontally.
 7. The media support stand of claim 1, the media slotshaving a depth with respect to the top surface of approximately 20 mm.8. An imaging device comprising: a marking engine configured to apply amarking material to print media; a housing that at least partiallyencloses the marking engine; a media support stand incorporated into thehousing, the media support stand including at least one media slot, theat least one media slot being configured to support at least one printmedia oriented at least somewhat vertically, the at least one media slothaving at least one open end that enables the at least one print mediato be horizontally inserted into the media slot.
 9. The imaging deviceof claim 8, the at least one media slot including a plurality of arcinducing vector transitions in a plane transverse to the planar extentof the vertically oriented print media, the plurality of arc inducingvector transitions being configured to impart alternating arcs to theprint media inserted into the at least one media slot.
 10. The imagingdevice of claim 9, the at least one open end of the at least one mediaslot being flaired with respect to an intermediate portion of the mediaslot.
 11. The imaging device of claim 10, the at least one media slotincluding a plurality of media slots.
 12. The imaging device of claim11, at least one of the plurality of media slots having a slot widththat is different than a slot width of other media slots in theplurality.
 13. The imaging device of claim 12, the media support standhaving a top surface, the plurality of media slots being recessed intothe top surface, the top surface being substantially flat exclusive ofthe plurality of media slots formed therein.
 14. The imaging device ofclaim 8, the media support stand being integral with the housing.
 15. Amedia support stand comprising: a base; a plurality of media slotsformed in the base, each media slot in the plurality being configured tosupport at least one print media oriented vertically, each media slot inthe plurality including a plurality of arc inducing vector transitionsin a plane transverse to the planar extent of the vertically orientedprint media, the plurality of arc inducing vector transitions beingconfigured to impart alternating arcs to the print media inserted intothe respective media slot. each media slot in the plurality having atleast one open end that enables print media to be horizontally insertedinto the respective media slot, the at least one open end being flairedwith respect to an intermediate portion of the respective media slot.16. The media support stand of claim 15, at least one of the pluralityof media slots having a slot width that is different than a slot widthof other media slots in the plurality.
 17. The imaging device of claim16, the base having a top surface, the plurality of media slots beingrecessed into the top surface, the top surface being substantially flatexclusive of the plurality of media slots formed therein.
 18. The mediasupport stand of claim 17, the base being incorporated into a housing ofan imaging device.
 19. The media support stand of claim 18, the basebeing integral with the housing.